Modal Analysis for the Plant Machinery Engineer. Recipes and Shortcuts. Part II

Vázquez, José Antonio

Experimental modal analysis and operating deflection shapes (ODS) are powerful tools in vibration analysis and machinery troubleshooting. However, the plant machinery engineer often doesn't believe such techniques are available given a lack of advanced measurement equipment. This tutorial presents best practices with simplified experimental modal analysis and ODS techniques that can be used by a plant machinery engineer with the limited vibration analysis equipment usually available at a plant site. Minimum requirements and analyzer settings are discussed for a variety of commonly available measurement equipment. For different machinery problems, common measurement pitfalls and limitations are reviewed and, where appropriate, alternative methods are presented